Note: I will be writing similar letters to Cheri DiNovo, Ana Bailao and Cesar Palacio, but I need to complete some research first.

Dear Sirs,

I don’t know if you are aware of this- but, the meeting you both attended on November 15th was lead a gang of anarchists who have been actively promoting political violence on the streets of Toronto. The attendance list included a who’s who of anarchist leaders- including Zach Ruiter, Sakura Saunders, Dee Shanger, and Ashleigh Ingle.

I spoke with city councillor Cesar Palacio and with the police officers who were there that evening- they all acknowledged knowing the meeting was being run by anarchists. The Toronto Police Service felt it was necessary to send a mobile command unit to protect the plant.

People in the neighbourhood were slightly petrified to watch these people right across the street from their homes. Unfortunately, by headlining at Zach Ruiter’s event, you have helped give credibility to a dangerous group of people. We need your leadership in fixing this, and ensuring it is a community-led process. So far, the only people who have suffered are home owners- this needs to be stopped.

It’s clear that the GE-Hitachi uranium plant must go, and I commend you on your willingness to take this issue on. Equally, I’m looking forward to hearing your proposals on how to minimize the health impacts of demolishing the building. As the issue with the former luminous watch dial factory at Dundas Square is teaching us- the clean-up could be quite complicated, time consuming and possibly dangerous.

Can the building be safely demolished without health risks to its neighbours? Does the federal or provincial government have mechanism to compensate the nearby property renters & owners for any interruption to their lives? Are there weaknesses in current legislation that could be disadvantageous to people in the neighbourhood?

Once more, thank you for taking the lead on helping our community work through this difficult challenge. I look forward to hearing your plan on how to fix this problem quickly, safely, and without the use of violence.

Let’s not tar him until we see how they respond to this. Their willingness (or lack of) to take leadership and clean-up this mess (both the plant and the current situation) will say a lot about both of them…

According to Jonah Schein’s bio: “worked for years in the Davenport West community and across Toronto as a teacher, social worker, and community organizer.”

Sounds like most of the NDP. From all I see he looks like a pretty hard core environmentalist and a typical tax-and-spend, big government social engineer that pretty much make up the NDP. He does not appear to be in bed with the Anarchists. He gets attention from the rabble crowd mainly because he is NDP, environmentalists, tax-and-spend, social engineer, etc.

His politics are not my cup of tea but I do not think he is another David Eby or anything. Remember, the union honks on Rabble are a big fan of anyone who wants to spend government money.

Kay, see, so they weren’t doing anything violent, nothing getting destroyed, etc., but the fact that they are there is somehow a problem in itself, you’re telling people not to come out to rallies that certain other people might be coming to, regardless of who’s organizer? Trying to make a rule that says if they participate in a certain kind of protest tactic when it’s appropriate this somehow bars them from participating in other kinds of protest tactics when those are appropriate? No Greg. We need as many people coming out as possible, regardless of who likes who or what they did the day before.

I think you missed my story where I said to Zach Ruiter about the protest against GE Hitachi. I’ve never implied that people who believe in violence should be banned from anything- only that they need to pledge nonviolence in cases where the majority feel that way. There’s an important distinction between that and what you just assumed…

Hi Greg…
Apologies…this is the wrong place for this post but I thought you might want to know.
Zack Ruiter and first nations members saying they are represent Decolonize North America are knocking on doors on Brandon Avenue, handing out pamphlets stating they are holding a “Sunrise Ceremony – past Sunset, Day long All Out!” on Sunday February 3 in front of “GE-Hitachi 1025 Lansdowne Ave Uranium Secret.” Send me an email if you would like more info…

[…] Eby, Sid Ryan, Professor David McNally, Professor Jim Deutsch, Antonia Zerbisias, Andrew Cash and Jonah Schein it’s because I so desperately want to see one or more of them take leadership and stop all of […]